Hire-Purchase Act 1938
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1938 c. 53 |
| Year | 1938 |
Hire-Purchase Act, 1938.
(1 & 2 Geo. 6.) CHAPTER 53.
An Act to amend the law with respect to the hire purchase and sale upon credit of goods and the law of distress in its relation thereto.
[29th July 1938]
B E it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
1 Application of Act.
1. This Act shall apply in relation to all hire-purchase agreements and credit-sale agreements under which the hire-purchase price or total purchase price, as the case may be, does not exceed—
and the expressions ‘hire-purchase agreement’ and ‘credit-sale agreement’ shall be construed accordingly.
2 Requirements relating to hire-purchase agreements.
(1) Before any hire-purchase agreement is entered into in respect of any goods, the owner shall state in writing to the prospective hirer, otherwise than in the note or memorandum of the agreement, a price at which the goods may be purchased by him for cash (in this section referred to as the ‘cash price’):
Provided that this subsection shall be deemed to have been sufficiently complied with—
(a ) if the hirer has inspected the goods or like goods and at the time of his inspection tickets or labels were attached to or displayed with the goods clearly stating the cash price, either of the goods as a whole or of all the different articles or sets of articles comprised therein, or
(b ) if the hirer has selected the goods by reference to a catalogue, price list, or advertisement, which clearly stated the cash price either of the goods as a whole or of all the different articles or sets of articles comprised therein.
(2) An owner shall not be entitled to enforce a hire-purchase agreement or any contract of guarantee relating thereto or any right to recover the goods from the hirer, and no security given by the hirer in respect of money payable under the hire-purchase agreement or given by a guarantor in respect of money payable under such a contract of guarantee as aforesaid shall be enforceable against the hirer or guarantor by any holder thereof, unless the requirement specified in the foregoing subsection has been complied with, and—
(a ) a note or memorandum of the agreement is made and signed by the hirer and by or on behalf of all other parties to the agreement, and
(b ) the note or memorandum contains a statement of the hire-purchase price and of the cash price of the goods to which the agreement relates and of the amount of each of the instalments by which the hire-purchase price is to be paid and of the date, or the mode of determining the date, upon which each instalment is payable, and contains a list of the goods to which the agreement relates sufficient to identify them, and
(c ) the note or memorandum contains a notice, which is at least as prominent as the rest of the contents of the note or memorandum, in the terms prescribed in the Schedule to this Act, and
(d ) a copy of the note or memorandum is delivered or sent to the hirer within seven days of the making of the agreement:
Provided that, if the court is satisfied in any action that a failure to comply with the requirement specified in the foregoing subsection or any requirement specified in paragraph (b ), (c ), or (d ) of this subsection has not prejudiced the hirer, and that it would be just and equitable to dispense with the requirement, the court may, subject to any conditions that it thinks fit to impose, dispense with that requirement for the purposes of the action.
3 Requirements relating to credit-sale agreements.
(1) Before making any credit-sale agreement under which the total purchase price exceeds five pounds, the seller shall state in writing to the prospective buyer, otherwise than in the note or memorandum of the agreement, a price at which the goods may be purchased by him for cash (in this section referred to as the ‘cash price’):
Provided that this subsection shall be deemed to have been sufficiently complied with—
(a ) if the buyer has inspected the goods or like goods and at the time of his inspection tickets or labels were attached to or displayed with the goods clearly stating the cash price, either of the goods as a whole or of all the different articles or sets of articles comprised therein, or
(b ) if the buyer has selected the goods by reference to a catalogue, price list, or advertisement which clearly stated the cash price either of the goods as a whole or of all the different articles or sets of articles comprised therein.
(2) A person who has sold goods by a credit-sale agreement under which the total purchase price exceeds five pounds shall not be entitled to enforce the agreement or any contract of guarantee relating thereto, and no security given by the buyer in respect of money payable under the credit-sale agreement or given by a guarantor in respect of money payable under such a contract of guarantee as aforesaid shall be enforceable against the buyer or guarantor by any holder thereof, unless the requirement specified in the foregoing subsection has been complied with, and—
(a ) a note or memorandum of the agreement is made and signed by the buyer and by or on behalf of all other parties to the agreement, and
(b ) the note or memorandum contains a statement of the total purchase price and of the cash price of the goods to which the agreement relates and of the amount of each of the instalments by which the total purchase price is to be paid and of the date, or the mode of determining the date, upon which each instalment is payable, and contains a list of the goods to which the agreement relates sufficient to identify them, and
(c ) a copy of the note or memorandum is delivered or sent to the buyer within seven days of the making of the agreement:
Provided that, if the court is satisfied in any action that a failure to comply with the requirement specified in the foregoing subsection or any requirement specified in paragraph (b ) or (c ) of this subsection has not prejudiced the buyer, and that it would be just and equitable to dispense with the requirement, the court may, subject to any conditions that it thinks fit to impose, dispense with that requirement for the purposes of the action.
4 Right of hirer to determine hire-purchase agreement.
(1) A hirer shall, at any time before the final payment under a hire-purchase agreement falls due, be entitled to determine the agreement by giving notice of termination in writing to any person entitled or authorised to receive the sums payable under the agreement, and shall, on determining the agreement under this section, be liable, without prejudice to any liability which has accrued before the termination, to pay the amount, if any, by which one-half of the hire-purchase price exceeds the total of the sums paid and the sums due in respect of the hire-purchase price immediately before the termination, or such less amount as may be specified in the agreement.
(2) Where a hire-purchase agreement has been determined under this section, the hirer shall, if he has failed to take reasonable care of the goods, be liable to pay damages for the failure.
(3) Where a hirer, having determined a hire-purchase agreement under this section, wrongfully retains possession of the goods, then, in any action brought by the owner to recover possession of the goods from the hirer, the court shall, unless it is satisfied that having regard to the circumstances it would not be just and equitable so to do, order the goods to be delivered to the owner, without giving the hirer an option to pay the value of the goods.
(4) Nothing in this section shall prejudice any right of a hirer to determine a hire-purchase agreement otherwise than by virtue of this section.
5 Avoidance of certain provisions.
5. Any provision in any agreement—
shall be void.
6 Duty of owners and sellers to supply documents and information.
(1) At any time...
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